Elon Musk pulls out of Twitter deal over WW3 fears, company lawyers say
WTF?! As lawyers representing Elon Musk and Twitter argue over whether the whistleblower claims can be added to the former’s lawsuit, the company says one of the reasons Musk pulled out of the acquisition was fears of starting World War III.
Last week, former head of security at Twitter, Pater “Madge” Zatko, alleged that his former employer lied about security protocols and fake accounts. Not surprisingly, Musk’s legal team quickly filed a subpoena for Zatko to testify in an upcoming trial in which the billionaire will try to avoid a deal by not paying a $1 billion fine.
Musk’s lawyer is now asking the judge to delay the trial for a few weeks so that Zatko’s claims can be considered. “Doesn’t justice take weeks to sort this out?” said Alex Spiro at a hearing in Delaware.
In what marks the company’s first public response to Zatko’s allegations, Twitter called them a “false narrative,” adding that the former employee has “huge grievances” against the firm and was not responsible for spam during his tenure. Twitter.
In terms of $/bot, this deal is amazing.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2022
Lawyers for Zatko say he never intended to go public with his accusations against Musk, although Twitter disagrees. Lawyers for the company say that, as with the spam account, Musk is using the accusations as a way to evade a deal he agreed to without doing his due diligence.
Twitter lawyers also pointed to a text message Musk sent to his banker at Morgan Stanley on May 3 that said, “Let’s slow down for just a few days. […] there’s no point in buying Twitter if we’re heading for World War III.”
“That’s why Mr. Musk didn’t want to buy Twitter, all this bot stuff, mDAU. [monetizable daily active users] and Zatko is all an excuse,” said William Savitt, who represents Twitter. He said that if the judge allowed Zatko’s testimony to be added, the five-day trial would still have to take place on the scheduled October 17 date.
Zatko said Twitter violated its 2011 agreement with the FTC by not following a comprehensive security plan. He also said that senior management was involved in false and/or misleading reports affecting board members, users and shareholders, and that he was asked by CEO Parag Agrawal to provide false and misleading documents.
Twitter wants to force Musk to buy the company at a previously agreed price of $54.20 per share. Its share price is currently $38.65.
